1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to nails and other types of fasteners used in residential and commercial building construction. More particularly, the invention relates to a fastener for joining drywall, gypsum or wallboard to metal studs. The invention also has applications for fastening: (a) metal to metal; and (b) wood or other trim boards to the doors, windows and/or floor boards in residential or commercial construction.
2. Description of Related Art
It is generally known to provide a construction nail with one or more barbs along its shank or shaft. See, for example, Dixon U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,898. In Gisondi U.S. Pat. No. 2,745,308, there was disclosed a nail (fastener) concept for shingle and roofing applications. It is sheet metal-derived with a pair of inwardly toothed legs designed to spread apart as seen in FIG. 7 of that reference.
In Farrell et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,659,700 and 6,866,458, several L-shaped fasteners were disclosed for metal-to-metal and drywall joining. Both families of fasteners employed an elongated flat body that attaches to a driving head from only one side of the flat body shank.
There were various configurations of self-locking nails for metal frame fastening in O'Banion et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,719,512, 7,014,408 and 7,097,405. Several of these designs employed exterior barbs along sections of the nail shafts proper. Shaner U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,233 focused on a metal stud anchor with a hinged, stud wedge.
FIG. 7 of Daniels U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,993 showed a square-headed, slanted tip nail head without any split shaft leggings. Exterior barbed, sheet metal nails were the focus of Paskert et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,885. But, those nails are two-sided, bifolds rather than a fully enclosed shank with four exterior faces.
Three older references to barbed nails are mentioned herein. Purposefully barbed, nail shanks were shown in FIG. 5 of Stone U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,334. See also, FIG. 3 of O'Neill U.S. Pat. No. 1,100,252, and the barbed nail at FIG. 2 of White U.S. Pat. No. 549,555.
In residential and commercial construction, there is a great deal of drywall required to prep a room for plastering and/or other finish carpentry work. “Drywalling” can be labor intensive, time consuming and thus relatively expensive. In view of this, efforts are always being made to cut corners and reduce costs in this field of construction.
For years, wood studs (or “2×4's”) have been the accepted product for framing a room in most residential constructions. It was the underlayment of choice over which drywall was applied. When drywall is attached to wood studs, it may be possible to use a power or pneumatic gun for more efficient, cost-effective installations.
In today's construction market, however, there are other considerations to take into account. Depending on market price fluctuations, an equal length wood stud can cost twice the amount of its metal stud counterpart. Another disadvantage is the environmental concern with using wood studs. There is a continuing lumber demand and wood framing may unduly promote the deforestation of a country. Finally, wood frame members are subject to termite infestation and may require chemical pretreatments. Therefore, there is a growing economic as well as environmental incentive for using metal instead of wood studs in many residential applications.
In most current commercial constructions, metal studs are being mandated for better inherent strengths and their preferred, non-combustible qualities. Typically, drywall is affixed to metal studs with a plurality of screws. While efficient at holding the wallboard to the metal stud, the application of several screws to the perimeter of each section of drywall becomes quite tedious and time consuming.
After the drywall has been installed, and any subsequent plastering of same has been performed, most residential and commercial room constructions proceed with application of the finishing trim. The various trim members used to finish a room interior typically include casings around doors and windows, baseboard, crown molding, wainscoting and/or chair rails. The wood trim serves an aesthetic purpose as well as a functional purpose. It provides a finished look to the room interior. It also seals the gaps between doors, windows or floors and the adjacent wall.
One method of applying finish trim requires first drilling a hole through the trim, followed by insertion of a finish head screw through the trim, wallboard and metal stud with a drill or electric screw gun. Thereafter, these drilled holes are patched with filler and sanded. An alternate method requires gluing the trim to its predetermined location before shooting smooth shank nails through the trim, wallboard, and metal stud with a pneumatic gun.
What is needed is a rapid, yet efficient method for attaching drywall to a metal stud framed room, regardless of whether it is for residential or commercial occupation. Ideally, such attachment/fastener means should be installed using a typical power, pneumatic device. Most preferably, this method should be easily adapted (using different nail head shapes and/or different nail shank dimensions) for applying wood or other trim products over the outer drywall layers of a room.
What is also needed is a drywall fastener and method for metal studwork that can mechanically adhere the respective studs to the fastener (by localized deformations of the stud) rather than the typical prior art drywall means that perform the reverse operation, i.e., actually adhering each fastener to the drywall and stud.
Other objects and features of the present invention will be obvious to those of skill in the art. It should be noted, however, that the drawings are designed for the purpose of illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the instant invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims.